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During the pandemic, the U.S. government pulled out all the stops to try to keep Americans' financial lives intact. To a stunning degree, it worked.
Why it matters: The pandemic-era actions of the government prevented a spiral of declining asset values, depleted savings and higher household debt.
It is a stark contrast with the 2008 crisis, when there was no widespread private sector debt relief, asset prices plunged, and households spent a decade working through their debt overhang.
The flip side of that is the actions made the federal government's balance sheet worse — with substantially higher public debt — in order to bolster individuals' and companies' balance sheets.